Vertrauen
by RedScarfedSoldier
Summary: Rivamika Week - Day 1 - Forget-Me-Nots - Memories - Growing nostalgia towards childhood or adolescent years.


A/N: Last minute contribution to the first day of Rivamika Week, which I was certain I wasn't going to participate in until last night. I hope there isn't too many errors, this was extremely rushed. .  
This was originally supposed to be a lot shorter, but an entire night of no sleep later, here I am, haha. Enjoy!

* * *

''I took out three. How many are left?'' He yelled out as she landed on the opposite side of the roof. She held up two fingers and he couldn't deny that he was slightly impressed.

They had decided to split off from the rest of the squad after noticing the increasing number of pursuers. Armin, Sasha, Connie and Jean were to stay together and fall back as far as they could for now, and he, along with Mikasa, would provide a distraction and lead the enemies in the opposite direction, taking out as many as they could along the way, and meet up with the rest of them later.

They had managed to take out what he had counted to be about seven of the fifteen pursuers they were aware of before they ran into a dead end, with a group of what he guessed to be four men waiting to ambush them. _It's not always a bad thing that this world is full of idiots. _He thought to himself as he noticed one of the men didn't even have the brains to think his embarrassing excuse of a hat might be visible from behind the few all too suspiciously placed crates. He looked over to Mikasa and he could tell she noticed too.

With a nod, they silently agreed to split off into opposite directions. They had teamed up a few times by now, and had developed a form of communication made up of glares, nods and other things that nobody else would ever know the meaning behind. That only they were alike enough to understand.

He had taken out three men. One that was hiding on the roof of a building nearby, and two of the men behind the failed ambush attack. He would have taken out all four, but the other two cowards had fled as soon as they saw one of their comrades fall to the ground into a pile of his own blood. _Disgusting. _As he approached his final target, now cowering in fear and begging for his life, he noticed the other two men fly off, in the same direction as Mikasa. _Shit._

_No. She'll be fine. _He pushed away any negative thoughts and quickly finished off the man in front of him before heading off to try and find his subordinate.

He had been looking for about ten minutes before he stopped to rest for a second on a building. His head was beginning to hurt, and he was beginning to get worried.

That's when he heard a faint thud, and swiftly turned around. Relief washed over him as he saw her. She didn't seem to have any injuries, not any major ones, at least. But he could tell from the blood on her blades and her shirt that fate wasn't as kind to their enemies.

However, he didn't expect her to take out as many as him.

He motioned for her to come closer and she obeyed, making her way over to crouch down beside him.

''We stay together to take out the remaining pair. Understood?''

''Understood.''

Groaning, he removed his hand from his forehead, looking at the blood on his fingers.

''Shit.'' He heard her whisper as she stared at him. ''We have to treat your injuries before we do anything.''

''It's just a scratch'' He scoffed, turning away from her to scope out the area. Was there even anywhere to hide? They didn't even have any medical supplies.

As if she could read his mind, she pointed in the direction she came from. ''I saw a restaurant over there that may have a first aid kit we could borrow.''

''…Fine.''

* * *

After a lot of persuading, they had gotten themselves a first aid kit and whatever short lived safety the back room of a restaurant may provide.

''Sit.'' She ordered flatly, pointing to a single small chair leaning against the wall.

His head hurt too much to argue with her, so he made a mental note to give her some form of punishment for ordering him around later and sat down, watching as she pulled out the alcohol, cotton pads and bandages from the small box.

''This might sting a little.'' She warned as she prepared to wipe the blood from his cuts.

''Mikasa, I am a soldier, not a whiny brat. I think I can handle it.'' He retorted and she could swear she heard a joking undertone in his voice.

As she began cleaning his wounds, she noticed the gash on his cheek. It wasn't overly deep, but definitely deep enough to scar. Remembering her own scar, in a similar place, but on the opposite cheek, her eyes widened.

''What?''

''Nothing, just…'' Sweeping her hair back slightly, she pointed to her own scar. ''We match.''

The next few minutes were spent in silence as she cleaned his wounds, but he could tell she was thinking about something, something besides his injuries.

A few minutes later, she finally spoke. ''Who's behind all of this?''

It was the question he hoped he would never have to answer. He took a deep breath and decided he would try to get by with something simple.

''His name is…Kenny.''

But something in her eyes told him she knew he was keeping something to himself. Something important.

''You're a terrible liar, Captain.''_ Dammit._

''Mikasa, I…'' He trailed off, looking anywhere but at her.

She stopped, pulling her hand away from his face to look him straight in the eye, hardening her glare. It felt like her gaze was piercing straight through his skull.

''He's…'' _She deserves to know._ ''Kenny Ackerman.''

''How… '' She squeaked after a moment of shock. ''I thought… I had no family left.''

''Mikasa, listen to me.'' He reached out and grabbed her shoulder, snapping her back to reality.  
''He's not the family you want. He will kill us if we don't kill him first. You have to trust me.''

''…I understand.''

_Did she really just agree that easily? Since when…_

''I trust your orders.'' She stated blankly as she began to skillfully wrap a bandage around his head, and for a second he wondered how she was so experienced.  
''But…How do you know him?'' She asked as she finished up with the bandages and began neatly putting the contents of the first aid kit back together.

As he opened his mouth to answer, the door opened, revealing an angry restaurant owner. ''Hey, you kids! The deal was ten minutes. Hurry along and get out of here, you're disrupting business!''

''I'll tell you later.'' He promised her as they got up and walked towards the man.

''Sorry, old man. I didn't know our presence disgusted you so much. But…'' Running his finger along the counter, he raised it up to the man. '' I have to say, your sorry excuse of cleanliness disgusts me just as much.''

Mikasa edged them along and he smirked, feeling her disapproving gaze on him even after they were outside.

''That was unnecessary.''

''So is a restaurant that can't even keep dust off their counters.''

She was about to roll her eyes at him, when she noticed a group of familiar uniforms. _Fuck.  
_She spotted a small alleyway right beside the restaurant, which she did not hesitate to push him into.

He didn't have to ask why. They both stayed as quiet as possible until the group had passed, 3DMG ready in case they were spotted.

He recognized two faces, the two they didn't get the chance to take out. Of course, the cowards had to go and get back up. He couldn't count them all as they passed, but there were definitely too many of them for two people to take on, even if those two people were considered the strongest soldiers humanity had to offer.

He turned to face her, and he could see the panic in her eyes. ''We'll have to take shelter somewhere until everything dies down a bit. Only a night or two, most likely. Then we'll take the least obvious route back and avoid as much conflict as possible along the way.''

''What about the rest of the squad?''

''We'll just have to believe in them and trust that they'll know what to do if they get into trouble.''

She nodded in reply and they set off, staying low and keeping a cautious eye out for anyone suspicious.

* * *

They had managed to secure themselves a room in an old, slightly rundown hotel that they were sure was far enough away from the centre of town to be as safe as possible.

It was a small room, with only one bed, a small sofa and a shower, but neither of them were used to luxuries.

''I'm taking a shower.'' He proclaimed, almost immediately after they entered the room.

She took the time to inspect the space. The bed was hard, but not entirely uncomfortable, and the blankets smelled freshly washed. The small sofa in the corner had to have one of the ugliest patterns she had ever seen, and there was a small rug and a coffee table laid out in front of it. Aside from that there was nothing else in the room besides a bookshelf with a couple of old worn out books and a wooden chair beside the small window that overlooked the outskirts of the town, by which she sat while she waited for her turn to shower.

It had been a stressful day, and her curiosity about how her Squad Leader knew her only known alive relative just kept growing as she waited.

''Didn't take you for the type who enjoyed stargazing.''

She turned, slightly startled by his voice, she was so caught up in her thoughts she didn't even notice he had finished showering.

''Didn't take you for the type who cared about other people's interests.''

She got up and headed towards the bathroom.

''The world is full of surprises, Mikasa.''

Their regular arguments, if you could even call them that, had grown from a way to express their mutual resentment to a sort of competition of who would give in first, a strange hobby that, like many things, nobody else really understood.

When she had finished her shower, she noticed that he had already cleaned the entire room top to bottom, and was sitting on the sofa with one of the books. She knew him well enough by now, and had grown accustomed to his obsessive cleaning habits, so she didn't question him. And if she was completely honest with herself, she liked cleanliness a fair bit herself, so it didn't bother her.

''These books fucking suck.'' He commented as he closed the book in his hands and got up to place it back on the bookshelf.

She bit her lip to stifle a laugh as she walked over to the bed and sat down, feeling the relief of finally being able to rest her feet after their long day.

''So…'' She began, and he knew right away what she was going to ask.

Walking over to sit on the foot of the bed, he sighed. ''He took me in as a child, after I lost my parents. Almost everything I know is the result of his training, except the ability to be a decent human being, something he doesn't have. He trained me to be a killer, like him, but I didn't want to be like him. He killed many innocent people. I ran away from him after a while, but I guess he's finally found me.''

''Your parents..''

''I don't remember them.''

She thought of her own parents, and wondered if there would come a time she would forget them, too.

They spent the next few hours chatting about a number of things, from their pasts to stories of stupid things that they had witnessed recently to things they considered simple hobbies, all the things they hardly had time to discuss normally, and all the things he would never care to discuss normally. Maybe it was because they really had nothing else to do, or because they had a surprising number of things in common, but he found it oddly enjoyable.

When he noticed her getting tired, he stood up and made his way towards the small sofa.  
''I'll sleep here tonight. You can have the bed.''

She didn't argue it, she was too tired, and besides, he was the only one small enough to fit on that thing. Instead, she gave a small smile. ''Goodnight.'' She yawned, resting her head on the pillow, falling asleep almost immediately after she closed her eyes, and falling into a dream she hadn't had in a long time.

It was a rainy day, and she was with her parents in their little home in the mountains.  
She was sitting with her mother at the table when her father went to answer the door, expecting Dr. Jäger, and was stabbed by a creepy looking middle-aged man. She could see her mother get up and try to attack back with a pair of scissors, yelling for her to escape, and then she saw the axe meet her head, blood spraying everywhere as she fell to the floor. She could hear screams, and she didn't know what to do. _Mikasa. Mikasa! _

''Mikasa!'' Her eyes shot open and she could barely see through her tears, but she could tell Levi was standing above her, lightly shaking her arm.

She sat up and looked around, her breathing was frantic and her head hurt. _That nightmare again? …But why now?_ She wiped her eyes and got up, reaching for the rest of her uniform.

''What are you doing?''

''I can't sleep after that dream. I've never been able to.'' She explained.

''We're on a dangerous mission here, Mikasa. You need to be fully alert, not running on 2 hours of sleep.''

He fixed the covers and pillows before pointing to the bed. ''Lie down. That's an order.''

She sighed at him and lied down, but she knew no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn't be able to —

He interrupted her thoughts as lied down beside her, pulling her in close to him and surrounding her in a warm, safe embrace. Her breath caught in her throat for a second and she froze, shocked by his sudden display of affection, but she relaxed after a few seconds, amazed at how comfortable she felt in his arms.

''Try and get some sleep, brat.''

And after a few moments, she did. He found himself mesmerized by how peaceful she looked when she was asleep, and subconsciously began gently touching the scar on her cheek, suddenly remembering what she had said earlier, his hand moved to his own.

_Maybe the red lines etched permanently into our flesh would be our red strings of fate._


End file.
